Andrew Riley, 7, of North Haverhill traveled south to Hooksett Saturday to see his wish come true, receiving a brand new twin-seat ATV, which he can now ride in with his mother or father. At far right, he gets a close-up view of the vehicle. At immediate right, he and his father, Allen Riley, enjoyed a quick test ride across the HK Powersports property in Hooksett. (Ryan O'Connor/Union Leader Correspondent)

A four-wheeling dream come true for the Riley family of North Haverhill

By RYAN O'CONNORSunday News Correspondent

HOOKSETT - Seven years ago, John Soares' son was granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Saturday, Soares helped make someone else's dream come true.

You see, Soares works at HK Power Sports in Hooksett, which joined the Make-A-Wish Foundation to provide the gift of a lifetime to the Riley family of North Haverhill, whose 7-year-old son, Andrew, was born with a severe seizure disorder.

They were handed the keys to a brand new Polaris RZR EPS, which has a pricetag of $12,299, not including upgrades.

"The seizures that he has, he can't hold onto anything, so we put a seatbelt system that will strap him in there and allow him and his family to go out on the trails and have fun," said Soares. "In the North Country, they have a thousand miles of connected trails they can ride, so they can ride forever and have some great fun together."

Initially, Make-A-Wish representatives were hesitant to provide an ATV to Andrew, because of his age, but his mother, Jamie, said she wrote a letter explaining their unique situation.

"Because of Andrew's severe seizure disorder, it's no longer safe for him to ride in front of us on a four-wheeler anymore, and that seems to be the one activity we can all do as a family, is go on four-wheeler rides," she said. "With his limited walking, we can't go hiking anymore, and we can't do water sports, because it's not safe with his aspirations, so we contacted Make-A-Wish."

Maria Tarbox and her husband, David Tarbox, facilitated the wish for the Riley family.

"We've been wish-granters for about eight years, and we were thrilled to get them as a family," said Maria Tarbox. "They're a wonderful family, and are very, very active, and they have a large piece of property that they're able to take their ATVs on."

"They're phenomenal people, what Dave and Maria did for us, and how hard they worked for us, and how hard Make-A-Wish in general worked to make this happen," said Jaimie Riley."If there's ever anything we can do to pay them back, we'll be there. We'll help them out."